You Make Your Own Luck

It seems like every time you achieve some kind of victory there’s someone who stands up to say “you just got lucky.”

What do you do? Get discouraged? That’s a natural response, but it’s not recommended. Far better to let their doubt fuel your fire—or even just ignore it and move on.

Actually, you need to find ways to let it fuel you and let it go and move on. If you just feed on anger it could cloud your vision. Your real goal isn’t to prove others wrong, it’s to win the game, build your business, make the world a better place for your children, whatever it your dream is. Running around like a wild person trying to prove yourself is not going to help you achieve your goal. BUT you can use your anger as the extra motivation you need at certain times to keep going.

The Golden State Warriors have to deal with this. In 2014/15 they won the NBA Championship. They won 67 games, marched through the difficult Western Conference, and beat Lebron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals. Oh, and Stephen Curry was the MVP of the NBA that season. Yet there are some that said Golden State just got lucky. Really? As if they accomplished all those things by accident, like somebody who trips over a rock and strikes gold.

What’s interesting is instead of looking at what Golden State did to win—and possibly learning something, these detractors want to find all the reasons the Warriors shouldn’t have won. What if they’d faced the Los Angeles Clippers or the San Antonio Spurs? What if the Cleveland Caveliers had all been healthy? What if cats and dogs could talk? What if I were abducted by aliens? What if this is a ridiculous way to look at why things happen?

I don’t know about you, but when people start playing the “what if” game, I tune them out.

The thing is there is always another way events could have turned out, but talking about it just to tear somebody else down is pointless. Denying someone else’s skill and drive—what does it accomplish? Yes, this gets me going. I’ve heard people say this kind of thing about me and about other people I know. When I see someone succeed, I don’t want to tear them down, I want to talk with them so I can maybe learn something.

Find the ways to take negative comments and use those opinions as motivation. Here’s how:

Hustle! That’s it. Hustle before the good things start happening and after they do, don’t stop. And after people dis you, keep hustling. Put in the effort. Keep showing up.

Do the right things! Someone close to me once said “if you do what is right, you can’t be wrong.” Don’t let the negative comments sway you into making bad choices.

Connect! Connections give you more chances, more ways to learn, more leads, more referrals, more opportunities—all the things “luck” is made of!

Prove people wrong! So they think you didn’t earn this? Prove it to them again. And again! Their low opinion only leads to you being more successful. How mad will that make them now?